Legacy video network configuration in a distributed access architecture

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a method receives a network topology of a distributed access architecture and a legacy video network. Video streams include characteristics that are associated with delivery via the legacy video network. The method selects a set of anchor points for a remote physical device in the distributed access architecture where the set of anchor points are associated with a geographic location of the remote physical device. A set of attribute labels are selected for the set of anchor points where the set of attribute labels associated with characteristics of the video streams. The method then generates a definition of video streams based on the anchor points and the attribute labels for a remote physical device configuration and generates the remote physical device configuration for video. The remote physical device configuration is used to provide the video streams to the remote physical device.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present disclosure claims priority to U.S. Provisional App. No.62/659,241 filed Apr. 18, 2018, the contents of which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The evolution of a video plane and a data plane have traditionally beendisconnected. A traditional radio frequency (RF) combiner network at aheadend has allowed video and data to have a fair degree of independenceduring delivery of both video and data. However, distributed accessarchitectures (DAAs) remove the digital to analog conversion from theheadend to a remote device. The distributed access architectureintroduces difficulties in configuring a legacy video network for videodelivery in the distributed access architecture. For example,configuring a remote physical device is challenging because it is notknown what video services are connected to a specific remote physicaldevice during deployment. Further, scaling the architecture acrossmultiple remote physical devices is also problematic. For example, theremote physical device configuration needs to be generated manually foreach remote physical device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a simplified system of a method for delivering data andvideo according to some embodiments.

FIG. 2 depicts a more detailed example of a management system accordingto some embodiments.

FIG. 3 depicts an example of tags for various components of the systemaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts a simplified flowchart of a method for generating remotephysical device configurations according to some embodiments.

FIG. 5 depicts a simplified flowchart of delivering video to a remotephysical device according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a distribution of video stream constructsthat define a desired set of video services on a frequency spectrumaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 7 depicts a simplified flowchart of a method for processing videoaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of special purpose computer systemsconfigured with a management system according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Described herein are techniques for a networking system. In thefollowing description, for purposes of explanation, numerous examplesand specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of some embodiments. Some embodiments as defined by theclaims may include some or all of the features in these examples aloneor in combination with other features described below, and may furtherinclude modifications and equivalents of the features and conceptsdescribed herein.

Some embodiments allow the automatic configuration of devices in adistributed access architecture (DAA). A distributed access architecturemay include remote physical devices (RPHY), remote media access controlphysical devices (R-MACPHY), remote optical line terminal (OLT) devices,and other devices that remove the digital to analog conversion from aheadend to the remote device. A remote physical device, which convertsthe optical digital signal to radio frequency (RF) or a quadratureamplitude modulated (QAM) signal, will be used for discussion purposes,but other remote devices may be appreciated. Some embodiments define avideo configuration for video delivery at various points in a videostream construction. A system uses anchor points with attribute labelsand anchor point label rules to generate the configuration for videodelivery using remote physical devices. The use of anchor points andlabels allows a management system to drive both manual and automatedconfiguration changes to headend distributed access video generationelements and legacy video components to the remote devices in thedistributed access architecture. Anchor points can be aligned to pointsin the physical plant, such as a geographic location or a physicaldistribution path. Labels represent video characteristics that can betied to anchor points. The attribute labels are used to tie legacy videocomponents with certain attributes to anchor points to allow systemconfiguration options to be reduced or automated decisions to be made bythe system.

System Overview

FIG. 1 depicts a simplified system 100 of a method for delivering dataand video according to some embodiments. System 100 includes a headend102, a remote physical device 104, user premises 106, and a serversystem 108. System 100 may be a distributed access architecture asdiscussed above where digital optical components are used to replaceanalog optical components between the headend and the remote physicaldevice 104, which allows the physical components to perform the analogto digital (and RF) conversion be configured deeper in the networkcloser to user premises 106. Headend 102 may deliver video and data touser premises 106 using remote physical device 104. Although a singleuser premises 106 and single remote physical device 104 are shown,remote physical device 104 may be coupled to multiple user premises 106.Additionally, system 100 may include multiple remote physical devices104 that are coupled to different sets of user premises 106.

Headend 102 may receive video and data from content sources 120. A videomanager 112 may manage the video delivery to user premises 106 and adata manager 114 may manage the data delivery to user premises 106. Insome embodiments, headend 102 may deliver both video and data to userpremises 106 via the same RF frequency spectrum. For example, the RFfrequency spectrum may include an upstream frequency range and adownstream frequency range. The downstream frequency range may deliverboth video and data downstream from headend 102 to user premises 106 atdifferent frequencies. Similarly, the upstream frequency range deliversvideo and data upstream from user premises 106 to headend 102.

Headend 102 may send the video and data signal via a digital network,such as via an optical signal. Remote physical device 104 may receivethe digital signal and convert the signal to analog, such as to an RFsignal. In the upstream direction, remote physical device 104 receivesanalog video or data from user premises 106, converts the analog videoor data to a digital signal, and sends the digital signal to headend102.

Video manager 112 may use an RPD configuration 118 to insert video anddata into a digital signal that is sent to remote physical device 104.Remote physical device 104 then converts the video into analog at thecorresponding frequencies and sends the analog signal to user premises106.

RPD configuration 118 may be a list of addresses that pertain to videodelivery. For example, the addresses may be multicast addresses forvideo streams. Video manager 112 uses the addresses that are associatedwith video streams received at headend 102 to determine which video toinsert into the digital signal that is sent to remote physical device104. For example, headend 102 receives various video streams based on alegacy video delivery through a legacy video network (e.g., a networkthat creates video streams and performs the QAM RF conversion at headend102). Video manager 112 inserts the appropriate video into the digitalsignal with information about the desired frequency placement for thespecific RPD configuration 118 and provides the video to specific remotephysical device 104.

RPD configuration 118 may be generated using anchor points, labels, andlabel rules. The anchor points may be used to describe components of thevideo distribution of the video streams that are configured to use thelegacy video network. For example, anchor points may align to ageographical location or components in a physical distribution path toremote physical device 104. In some embodiments, the anchor pointsestablish a logical structure of a video distribution topology that isused to generate the RPD configuration 118 to allow the correct videoservices to be delivered to the correct frequencies of a video signalthat is sent to user premises 106. The labels may represent videocharacteristics that can be tied to anchor points. The labels maycorrespond to some aspect of the video delivery, such as some videoservices associated with a legacy video network. The anchor points andlabels are then used to generate configuration of RPD configuration 118to provide video services.

Server system 108 includes a management system 110 that can define theanchor points, labels, and label rules. Management system 110 then usesthe anchor points, labels, and label rules to generate RPD configuration118.

Management System

FIG. 2 depicts a more detailed example of management system 110according to some embodiments. Management system 110 includes an RPDconfiguration engine 202 that generates RPD definitions and a videostream configuration engine 204 that configures video streams. Both RPDconfiguration engine 202 and video stream configuration engine 204 useanchor points, attribute labels, and label rules that will be used tocreate specific RPD configurations based on the correspondingattribute(s) of the specific remote physical device placement in thephysical network or connection to associated anchor points feeding thephysical network.

A network topology manager 206 determines the network topology, whichmay include physical and logical components. Network topology manager206 may determine the legacy components in the legacy video network andalso distributed access architecture components. Some examples ofcomponents may include video service multiplexers, components on eitherside of remote physical device 104, remote physical device 104, etc. Theanchor points establish a logical structure of a video distributiontopology. For example, the downstream and upstream cable modemtermination system (CMTS) blade identifier, Data Over Cable ServiceInterface Specification (DOCSIS) set-top-box gateway tunnel descriptorsassociated with the blade (DOCSIS Set-top-box gateway (DSG) DownstreamChannel Descriptor (DCD) configuration), and other logical componentidentifiers may be set as anchor points. Labels represent videocharacteristics that can be tied to the anchor points. Examples oflabels may include ad zones, channel maps, service identifiers, videostreams, location group identifiers, video frequency channeldefinitions, upstream channel identifiers, geographic locations such aszip codes, etc. Label rules may be associated with anchor points and areused to automate, pre-populate, and change RPD configurations 118, suchas to generate RPD configurations 118 for other remote physical devices104.

To identify an anchor point for remote physical device 104, legacyinformation is used. For example, a Downstream Channel Descriptorconfiguration within the network provides a control channel for a DOCSISset-top-box gateway (DSG set-top-boxes have DOCSIS modems that receivecontrol channel information through a DOCSIS Set-top-box gateway tunnelembedded in the data path) that represents a unique set of informationor at least a more limited set of information for out-of-band videoinformation that can be used to both facilitate the harvest of relatedvideo information from the legacy video network elements and configureremote physical device 104. Management system 110 may use theinformation from the DSG tunnel to populate video attributeconfiguration information to determine the anchor points or attributelabels and ultimately the desired video service sets and frequencies forthat section of plant or group of user premises to which thatinformation applies.

The DSG tunnel source identifies a stream source, such as an InternetProtocol (IP) stream source from which video controller and where toretrieve channel map information related to the portion of the networkwhere the distributed access architecture is being deployed (ChannelMap/Electronic industries alliance (EIA) frequency definition,associated PEG services, etc.). There may be other DCD relatedinformation that is useful, such as emergency alert system (EAS)Broadcast tunnel, switched digital video (SDV) for out-of-bandmini-carousel data tunnel, other data tunnels, etc. The DCDconfiguration is completed at the “DOCSIS” level (e.g., outside the setup of remote physical device 104) and is used as an example of an anchorpoint in the network. Identifying the control channel or EAS or SDVsources also limits otherwise uncorrelated labels (e.g., AdZone, PEGZone(if not explicitly tied to DSG Tunnel), video on demand (VOD) ServiceGroup, Switched Service Group) that might be applied to the anchor pointof a DSG tunnel configuration for remote physical device 104 that aregeographically part of the legacy video network.

Additional video related information harvested in this way can beapplied upstream as the video service construction becomes morevirtualized and/or is managed through existing elements. CreatingMultiple Program Transport Streams (MPTS) video muxes or providingpacket identifier (PID) insertion on those muxes (EAS, SDV in-bandminicarousel, DTA Control Stream, EBIF streams, etc.) can be managedwith a similar anchor points and attribute labels with associated anchorpoint label rules.

Extending the anchor points and labels to in-band systems is possiblethrough similar anchor point and attribute label groupings. For example,in a DVB System, labels associated to specific NIT and session datatransport (SDT) distributions in the legacy video network that would beused in place of SCTE-65 information to develop the Channel Map/channelfrequency definitions/label(s).

In addition, labels can be further customized to specific regionaldeployment requirements (e.g., Public, Education, Government or PEGsvideo service distributions are sometimes much smaller than at an AdZoneor Regional/Market Area or Off-Air channel level). These anchor pointscould specifically be geo-locators such as zip code, FIPS code, orrelated to municipal or political boundaries.

Labels or groups of labels could be used to uniquely identify andefficiently configure video distribution of video streams associatedwith legacy video networks to remote physical device 104 and used toefficiently configure any number of remote physical devices 104 that areassociated to that set or subset of anchor points or labels.

FIG. 3 depicts an example of tags for various components of system 100according to some embodiments. The tags may be used as either anchorpoints or attributes. Headend 102 may receive content from regionalcontent sources, national content sources, and local content sources120. Headend 102 may provide various services, such as regional contentacquisition, a regional video service with ad insertion, a remuxservice, local content acquisition, and local content service with adinsertion. The remux service may combine video and data together.Various tags may be provided, such as ad zone tags, region tags, andlocal tags. The ad zone may identify an ad zone area; a region tag mayidentify the different geographic locations; and a local tag mayidentify local areas.

Tags may be associated with a control stream, a regional video service,a direct national video service, a remux service, ad insertion ad zones,and a local video service. In the video delivery structure, remotephysical device 104 may include tags such as a channel map, anout-of-band stream, an emergency alert system (EAS) zone, and a DSGtunnel. An access network between remote physical device 104 and userpremises 106 may also include tags, such as a ZIP code for the userpremises and geo-location for user premises 106.

For a first user premises 106, the access network tag examples may be anRF plant identifier and an ad zone identifier A1. For a user premises106-2, the RF plant identifier may be RF A2 and an ad zone A2. For auser premises 106-3, the RF plant may be identified by a distributedaccess architecture DAA1 and an ad zone B.

Video stream configuration engine 204 applies labels to different videostreams. For example, labels may be applied to video streams based oncharacteristics of the video stream.

Allowing the application of labels (e.g., Channel Map/EIA definition, Adzone, PEG, VOD Service Group, Switched Linear Service Group, adaptivebitrate streaming (ABR) content, etc.) to specific distributed accessarchitecture networks to facilitate/automate the specific video servicesdistributions associated to a specific deployment (e.g., specific DEPIand UEPI video-related distributions are identified, associated andanchored to the DSG Tunnel distribution point and/or remote physicaldevice 104 in a way that individual multicast address (MCA) contentstreams can be grouped for association to unique source-specific contentto/from remote physical device 104 and additional remote physical devicedeployments can take advantage of these groupings for their ownconfiguration(s)).

Referring back to FIG. 2, RPD configuration engine 202 generates an RPDdefinition 118 based on anchor points, labels, and label rules. The setof labels and anchor points are used to select addresses for incomingvideo streams, such as multicast addresses for incoming video streamsthat are inserted into an RPD configuration 118 for a user premises 106.RPD configuration engine 202 uses the labels and anchor points to selectthe correct set of video stream addresses to be used for a particularremote physical device 104. For example, the set of user premises 106that is coupled to remote physical device 104 are used to determineaddresses for RPD configuration 118. The appropriate anchor point forthe downstream or upstream CMTS blade identifier or associated DSGtunnel descriptors associated with the blade are used to select thecorrect video stream addresses for the RPD configuration 118. The videostreams may be grouped together based on the anchor points and labels.The groupings may comply with video delivery in the distributed accessarchitecture and group video streams based on their legacy video networkcharacteristics.

For example, in one possible implementation, using the defined DOCSISDownstream Channel Descriptor (DCD) configuration of a data element(e.g., the DSG Tunnel definition in the CMTS at time of the “node split”or installation of remote physical device 104), RPD configuration engine202 identifies the associated multicast address (MCA) sourcedefinitions. From the source multicast addresses of video streams, RPDconfiguration engine 202 may:

-   -   identify the Conditional Access Tunnel(s) for remote physical        device 104, and use that information to identify the specific        channel map distribution(s) to harvest Virtual Channel Map EIA        channel definitions and Video Mux definitions; from the Channel        Map, identify the specific services associated with this        distribution including adding appropriate Labels for the AdZone,        OutOfBandControlChannel, PEGs or other applicable information to        group distributions; from the services, also identify Mux        related PID Insertion requirements (e.g., digital television        adapter (DTA), SDV, DVB) that might be used in creating the        video streams that will be Downstream External PHY Interface        (DEPT) wrapped for RPD distribution;    -   identify the Broadcast Tunnel such as the EAS Generator source        that is appropriate for the zone where remote physical device        104 will be configured; this information can be used to populate        EAS PID Insertion into associated video streams (before DEPI        wrapping) for that RPD distribution; and    -   optionally identify the Switched Digital Video Data Tunnel being        used to identify Narrowcast EIA, Narrowcast Service Group,        remote procedure call (RPC) and Control Channel (R6) information        and video switching prior to DEPI wrapping.

The resultant set of configuration information can be used by RPDconfiguration engine 202 to configure a specific RPD configuration 118for the video portion of the configuration. Accordingly, RPDconfiguration engine 202 defines the critical elements and relationshipsfor to be applied on any given RPD deployment either at remote physicaldevice 104 or on the Internet Protocol (IP) side of the video networkfeeding remote physical device 104 and to use remote physical device 104as an anchor point of these definitions. Labels withfunctional/purposeful attributes and defined relationship rules provideinformation that will be used to select video sources (including sourcemux'es that have been combined and/or altered for other remote physicaldevices 104) and to manipulate those video sources along with videocontrol plane streams to realize the definition at the anchor point.

In some implementations, the starting anchor point for RPD configuration118 should be identified in the data side of network, such as a DSGTunnel configuration; however, if such a construct is not available(such as in-band/DVB), then the anchor point may be related to thesystem information (SI) distribution such as combination of a networkinformation table (NIT)/SDT elements that are targeted for that remotephysical device. Management system 110 establishes or harvests as muchinformation as is available from the existing legacy video network todefine the video edge requirements based upon where in the legacy videonetwork remote physical device 104 will be deployed.

In addition, attribute labels may be used with appropriate rule setsthat allow for the configuration or re-configuration of a system basedon those rules. Management system 110 uses labels and label rules toautomate/prepopulate/change the remote physical device configuration aswell as the video core feeding remote physical device 104. When a newremote physical device 104 is deployed into an existing geographicallocation, configuration of an existing remote physical device that maybe anchored to an existing label can be used to populate the newconfiguration using label rules. The configuration may auto-populatebased on the label rules applying the same geo-location information. Oneexample of a label rule may be if multiplexers from different ad zonesare configured for delivery to remote physical device 104, an alarm maybe generated.

FIG. 4 depicts a simplified flowchart 400 of a method for generatingremote physical device configurations according to some embodiments. At402, management system 110 retrieves and analyzes a network topology oflegacy components in for a legacy video network and distributed accessarchitecture components.

At 404, management system 110 selects anchor points from the distributedaccess architecture components. For example, the distributed accessarchitecture is used to deliver the video that was delivered previouslyby legacy components. The information from the legacy components may beused to select appropriate anchor points from the distributed accessarchitecture components that will be used to deliver legacy videoservices. As discussed above, anchor points may include geographiclocations or physical distribution paths in the distributed accessarchitecture.

At 406, management system 110 creates attribute labels forvideo-correlated information for video delivery using the legacy videonetwork components or distributed access architecture components. Theattribute labels may be logical tags that represent uniquevideo-correlated information. Example labels include:

-   -   Distributions such as video source multicast addresses or video        destination multicast addresses;    -   Video streams such as service Single Program Transport Stream        (SPTS), service Multiple Program Transport Stream (MPTS),        control channel, SDV Mini-carousel, etc.;    -   Video configuration items such as channel maps, PID Insertion,        Service IDs; and    -   Functional defined elements.

Example labels associated with specific configurations or streamdefinitions might include:

RPD Configuration:

-   -   LocationGroupID (could be combination of DSGTunnelID, ZipCode,        FIPSCode or other identifiers that would allow remote physical        device 104 to be configured with the same/similar configuration        or be the basis for a split);    -   AdZoneGroupID;    -   EIA Video Frequency Channel Definition (represents the channels        associated to video services); and    -   DEPI Configuration        -   1. Video MCA Address(es)        -   2. Video Service mux(es)            -   (1) ONE of each Type (National/OffAir, AdZone,                Narrowcast, PEG, ControlChannel)        -   3. UEPI Configuration            -   (1) Aggregation Destination (Upstream Channel                Identifier).

Video Service Mux(es)

-   -   Video Service Mux ID (National/Regional Group, AdZoneGroupID,        NarrowcastGroup, PEGGroup, ControlChannel—each Mux may only be        allowed one of these labels);    -   Services Mux List (1 or more—below defined for each Service)        -   1. Source MCA or uniform resource locator (URL),        -   2. Type (MP2/UDP, HLS, DASH-CIF, DASH-other),        -   3. Rate (CBR, ABR),        -   4. Access Criteria/Encryption/CCI            -   (1) Encryption may drive additional attribute                requirements such as DTA PID Insertion,        -   5. PID Insertion (EAS, DTA, SDV, etc. . . . . Multiple            Insertions allowed, Zero is OK)            -   (1) May be inherited by any given Label within the Label                Group such as DTA PID Insertion set on basis of                Encryption,    -   Switched Narrowcast service groups        -   1. ServiceGroupNumber, ServiceGroupName,        -   2. TSID/QAM,        -   3. SwitchedSourceList (based on specific SDV system in            place).

Addresses to anchor points that may then be used as a uniqueconfiguration grouping of elements. For example, configuration groupingsmay apply either to a group of remote physical devices 104 or to a groupof video services, or any combination.

At 408, management system 110 creates label rules. The label rules maybe used to allow scaling and re-application of specific configurations.Example rule sets that might be used or applied to RPD configuration 118might include:

-   -   Only one ControlChannel of each ControllerType (where        ControllerType(s) represents the underlying control stream(s)        defined in SCTE-55);    -   Only one AdZone (or one from each hierarchical AdZone Level);        and    -   Up to four DEPI MCA Sources and up to 16 DEPI MCA.

At 410, management system 110 applies the attribute labels and labelrules to anchor points. For example, various attribute labels may beapplied to anchor points.

At 412, management system 110 generates an RPD configuration 118 usingthe anchor points, attribute labels, and label rules based on the anchorpoints assigned to a remote physical device 104. The anchor point forremote physical device 104 may be used to associate attribute labelsthat can be used with respect to the anchor point. For example, a remotephysical device 104 in a certain geographic location may receive aspecific ad zone label. Information that allows the delivery of thevideo streams to remote physical device 104 may be added to RPDconfiguration 118.

In some examples, a remote physical device 104 is placed into serviceand associated to a CMTS upstream blade U1 and downstream blade D1.Downstream Blade D1 has a set of DSG Tunnels configured with a DCDmessage. The Downstream Blade D1 becomes associated to an Anchor PointAPD1. The DCD message can be examined to find the source controller aswell as the set of channel maps distributed on that section of networkplant. The channel maps can be examined to determine the set of PEGchannels distributed on that section of plant as well as certainservices that that cannot be explicitly determined such as a serviceassociated to an ad zone. When configuring remote physical device 104,only applicable options would appear. If the resolution is 100%deterministic, then the system can automatically configure the videoservices from the headend distribution and the RPD configuration. Ifthere is one set of off-air services (defined within a security domainand by the controller sourcing the channel map) or if there is one setof PEG Services for that specific anchor point distribution path,management system 110 may configure both the headend elements to makethose signals available and configure the specific remote physicaldevice 104 to select those signals with the associated frequencyplacement definitions. If the resolution is not 100% deterministic, thenmanagement system 110 can present a more limited set of options, such asto a user, to choose the correct service(s) to configure to remotephysical device 104. For example, there may be several versions of eachAd-Zone service within the controller or several sets of PEG channelsdefined within the channel maps on that downstream blade D1 downstream.Management system 110 may present an option to select either thespecific service (Service X, Ad Zone E) or a label (Ad Zone A throughG). Once either is selected, the balance of service selections maybecome 100% deterministic based on the label rules. Further, anchorpoints may be associated to larger groups—for example, the anchor pointAPD1 may be associated to zip code 12345. If another remote physicaldevice is turned up and associated to zip code 12345, then that remotephysical device can inherit the label attributes of the first remotephysical device. In the absence of a DSG plant, a substitute anchorpoint might be a specific Out of Band Channel distribution or a DVB NITdistribution.

Video Delivery

Once assigning anchor points and labels, and generating RPDconfiguration 118 with the anchor points and labels, headend 102 canprovide video to remote physical devices 104. The anchor pointsestablish a specific tie to a video topology. The labels are associatedeither directly or indirectly to those anchor points based on legacyinformation associated with the legacy video network components. FIG. 5depicts a simplified flowchart 500 of delivering video to remotephysical device 104 according to some embodiments. At 502, headend 102receives video and video-related data. The video may be received fromvideo streams having characteristics based on legacy video networkdelivery. For example, video streams may be received based on a legacydistribution scheme. That is, the video may be received for distributionvia a legacy video network. At 504, headend 102 selects addresses in RPDconfigurations 118 that were inserted based on anchor points andassociated attribute labels. The addresses may be associated with videostreams that have been received at 502. Then, at 506, headend 102correlates the video streams to the addresses in RPD configurations 118.This causes certain video streams to be pulled by different remotephysical devices 104. For example, at 508, headend 102 selectivelyconfigures the video streams to each remote physical device 104 based onthe correlation.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a distribution of video stream constructsthat define a desired set of video services on a frequency spectrumaccording to some embodiments. The labels may be used to define whereheadend 102 inserts video from video streams on specific frequencyranges. Each video stream may be defined by an identifier, such as atuning triplet of channel frequency, modulation mode, and servicenumber. Each subset of the video streams may be tied to an anchor point.Video streams can be added or deleted to the distributions. Adistribution can also move from one channel frequency to another. Usingthe set of anchor points and labels to drive the configuration maintainsa consistent set of information across disparate systems.

The downstream frequency range may be separated into various ranges thatare associated with different distributions, such as video, out-of-bandcontrol signaling, public access network, government access channels(PEG), ad insertion, DOCSIS downstream, switched digital video (SDV),national or off-air video, video-on-demand (VOD), etc. Each of thedifferent videos may be associated with different physical devices, suchas different quadrature amplitude multiplexers (QAMs). The anchor pointsand labels are used to identify the multiplexers.

In FIG. 6, an upstream channel may be from 5-42 MHz and a downstreamchannel may be from 54 MHz to 864 MHz. Although these frequency rangesare described, other frequency ranges for the upstream or downstreamchannels may be appreciated. Various anchor points may be defined ascontrol channel, local, ad zone, and DSG tunnel. The values of theanchor points define a geo-location of remote physical device 104. Theattributes at 602 are associated with an out-of-band (OOB) frequencyrange that sends out of band signals. Also, the attribute at 604 isassociated with an ad insertion frequency range and the attributes at606 are associated with a DOCSIS downstream frequency range. Attributelabels may be associated with the anchor points, such as at 602, theattributes local, ad zones, channel maps and DSG tunnel are associatedwith control channel. At 604, the DSG tunnel is associated with the Adzone anchor point, and at 606, local, ad zone, channel map, and channelassociated with the anchor point of DSG tunnel.

FIG. 7 depicts a simplified flowchart 700 of a method for processingvideo according to some embodiments. At 702, remote physical device 104receives an initial RPD configuration 118. RPD configuration 118 may begenerated using label rules that may use a configuration from anotherremote physical device 104, such as a remote physical device in the samegeo-location. The label rules may determine how anchor points and labelscan be associated with remote physical device 104.

At the time of an installation of remote physical device 104 (forexample, starting from I-CCAP structure), whether the installation is(1) RPD shelf in headend 102 or a hub or (2) remote physical deviceinstallation in a remote node, a Downstream Channel Descriptor(compliant with DOCSIS specifications) may need to be defined for whatis effectively a “data node” split to support the legacy DSGset-top-boxes on that portion of the network. The Downstream ChannelDescriptor may be associated with a remote physical device's downstreamdata service.

Management system 110 ingests the DCD associated with the specificremote physical device 104 and uses the Multicast Address (MCA) tunnelinformation to associate (1) channel map(s) distributed on that specificDSG plant, (2) EAS Generator, and (3) SDV System (if applicable).Management system 110 uses the MCA's to identify the associated upstreamequipment (e.g., video controller, EAS, Switched Digital Video System).Management system 110 queries the upstream equipment for channel map,EAS PID Insertion, service group related information which wouldauto-populate an RPD configuration 118.

Management system 110 would have the option to select a specific channelmap if more than one exists. Also, management system 110 would have theoption to connect EAS PID Insertion if the video services are directlymanaged. Management system 110 would have the option to connect R6 PIDInsertion to create a specific DSG Tunnel flow through remote physicaldevice 104. Management system 110 would have the option to connect RPCPID Insertion to the associated SDV Service QAMs. Management system 110would have the option to modify these flows with unique labels relatedto the region (ad-zone, PEG, VOD or SDV Service Group, Control Channel)to the specific remote physical device 104. Finally, management system110 would have the option to confirm labels related to the entire region(National/Off-Air) to the specific remote physical device 104.

Management system 110 configures video distributions and insertion ofassociated information (PID Insertion) related to National/Off-Air,Ad-Insertion, PEG, Narrowcast, and Control Channel video flows to remotephysical device 104. The specific label values would be identified as alabel group (for future RPD deployments). Alternatively, managementsystem 110 would allow the selection of channel map and label grouppairs.

At 704, remote physical device 104 determines anchor points and labelsfor the video. For example, once applied, RPD configuration 118 includesa set of addresses pertaining to desired video that is to be received byremote physical device 104. The multicast video distribution may fallwithin three categories of broadcast, which includes an ad zone andgovernment access channels, narrowcast which includes switched digitalvideo and video-on-demand, and a control channel that includesout-of-band provisioning and digital video control channel. The anchorpoints along a geographical location or physical distribution paths maybe correlated to the desired video, such as control channels that carrychannel maps. In a digital video broadcast system, anchor points may bea downstream blade as it represents a physical distribution or ageographic location. Labels represent video characteristics that can betied to the anchor point, such as ad zones and government accesschannels can be tied to the underlying geographic locations of anchorpoints. Channel maps may be tied to the path distributions. The anchorpoints and labels are then used to include addresses in the RPDconfiguration 118.

At 706, the sets of video services and streams are aligned according toanchor points and labels for the video that needs to be produced byheadend 102 for remote physical device 104. At 708, apply the RPDconfiguration to receive the video. Remote physical device 104 thenreceives video according to the addresses in its RPD configuration 118.Remote physical device 104 converts the video to analog, such as radiofrequency (RPD or MACPHY) or to an analog optical signal (R-OLT), andcorrelates the video to the RF spectrum based on the information definedin 706 that is conveyed within the video streams according to the remotephysical device standards. For example, remote physical device 104 mayinsert the video at various frequencies that are defined by the standardDEPI wrapping within the received video streams. In some examples, videomay be inserted in a frequency range as specified in FIG. 6. Remotephysical device 104 sends the video at the corresponding frequencies touser premises 106.

Moving the OOB channel on a group of nodes (for example, from 75.25 MHzto 104.2 MHz) might be needed as part of a DOCSIS 3.1deployment/creating more upstream channel bandwidth. Management system110 could be used to select the group of remote physical devices thatare targeted for the move and use the channel map and SCTE-55 associatedlabels and the EIA template to effect a new frequency distribution bysimply replacing the existing labels with the new labels that willresult in altering the configuration of remote physical device 104 to beconsistent with the new labels.

In any DSG configured/out of band control channel system, the same orsimilar approach may apply. DSG Tunnels represent a unique videodistribution that is explicitly tied to the data plane for out of banddata. For in-band distributions such as DVB, the NIT and SDTdistributions provide similar video information and these distributionswould be anchor points for RPD configurations 118 in these systems. Forpassive optical network (PON) data/video systems that utilize a channelmap or similar construct to identify linear content availability, theanchor points can be defined in terms of the video hub or controlchannel distribution serving that area. The information related to theseor similar distributions can be used to capture video relatedinformation to be applied to RPD configuration 118 via associatedlabels.

System

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of special purpose computer systems 800configured with a management system 110 according to some embodiments.Computer system 800 includes a bus 802, network interface 804, acomputer processor 806, a memory 808, a storage device 810, and adisplay 812.

Bus 802 may be a communication mechanism for communicating information.Computer processor 806 may execute computer programs stored in memory808 or storage device 810. Any suitable programming language can be usedto implement the routines of some embodiments including C, C++, Java,assembly language, etc. Different programming techniques can be employedsuch as procedural or object oriented. The routines can execute on asingle computer system 800 or multiple computer systems 800. Further,multiple computer processors 806 may be used.

Memory 808 may store instructions, such as source code or binary code,for performing the techniques described above. Memory 808 may also beused for storing variables or other intermediate information duringexecution of instructions to be executed by processor 806. Examples ofmemory 808 include random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM),or both.

Storage device 810 may also store instructions, such as source code orbinary code, for performing the techniques described above. Storagedevice 810 may additionally store data used and manipulated by computerprocessor 806. For example, storage device 810 may be a database that isaccessed by computer system 800. Other examples of storage device 810include random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), a harddrive, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD, a flashmemory, a USB memory card, or any other medium from which a computer canread.

Memory 808 or storage device 810 may be an example of a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium for use by or in connection withcomputer system 800. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumcontains instructions for controlling a computer system 800 to beconfigured to perform functions described by some embodiments. Theinstructions, when executed by one or more computer processors 806, maybe configured to perform that which is described in some embodiments.

Computer system 800 includes a display 812 for displaying information toa computer user. Display 812 may display a user interface used by a userto interact with computer system 800.

Computer system 800 also includes a network interface 804 to providedata communication connection over a network, such as a local areanetwork (LAN) or wide area network (WAN). Wireless networks may also beused. In any such implementation, network interface 804 sends andreceives electrical, electromagnetic, or optical signals that carrydigital data streams representing various types of information.

Computer system 800 can send and receive information through networkinterface 804 across a network 814, which may be an Intranet or theInternet. Computer system 800 may interact with other computer systems800 through network 814. In some examples, client-server communicationsoccur through network 814. Also, implementations of some embodiments maybe distributed across computer systems 800 through network 814.

Some embodiments may be implemented in a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium for use by or in connection with theinstruction execution system, apparatus, system, or machine. Thecomputer-readable storage medium contains instructions for controlling acomputer system to perform a method described by some embodiments. Thecomputer system may include one or more computing devices. Theinstructions, when executed by one or more computer processors, may beconfigured to perform that which is described in some embodiments.

As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow,“a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural references unless the contextclearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein andthroughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and“on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

The above description illustrates various embodiments along withexamples of how aspects of some embodiments may be implemented. Theabove examples and embodiments should not be deemed to be the onlyembodiments, and are presented to illustrate the flexibility andadvantages of some embodiments as defined by the following claims. Basedon the above disclosure and the following claims, other arrangements,embodiments, implementations and equivalents may be employed withoutdeparting from the scope hereof as defined by the claims.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A management system for a communications network,the management system comprising: at least one processor that receives:(i) a set of anchor points determined based on a location of at leastone remote physical device (RPD) in a distributed access architecture;and (ii) a set of attribute labels for the set of anchor points; wherethe at least one processor uses the set of anchor points and the set ofattribute labels to: (i) configure at least one RPD in the distributedaccess architecture; and (ii) assign respective labels in the set ofattribute labels to at least one video stream delivered to the at leastone RPD.
 22. The management system of claim 21 where the at least oneprocessor is configured to determine a respective address for each ofthe at least one video stream and add the respective address to thedevice configuration of an RPD.
 23. The management system of claim 22,where the set of video streams is determined based on which userpremises are coupled to receive from the RPD.
 24. The management systemof claim 22, wherein the respective address for each of the at least onevideo stream comprises multicast addresses for providing a set of videostreams to the RPD.
 25. The management system of claim 24, wherein theat least one processor configures a headend output to produce the set ofvideo streams to provide the set video streams to the RPD.
 26. Themanagement system of claim 21 where the at least one processordetermines distributed access architecture groupings that are associatedwith delivery of video to the at least one RPD, and associates one ormore attribute labels with the distributed access architecturegroupings.
 27. The management system of claim 26 where the at least oneprocessor associates one or more video streams with the one or moreattribute labels with corresponding distributed access architecturegroupings.
 28. The management system of claim 26 where the distributedaccess architecture groupings are associated with different frequencyranges for delivering video in the distributed access architecture. 29.The management system of claim 21 where the set of anchor points aredetermined based on a downstream channel descriptor configurationassociated with a downstream data service for the remote physicaldevice.
 30. The management system of claim 21 where the set of anchorpoints are determined based on information for a tunnel to a device at auser premises.
 31. The management system of claim 30 where theinformation for the tunnel is used to identify the characteristics ofthe legacy video network.
 32. The management system of claim 21 wherethe at least one processor uses label rules to generate the RPDconfiguration by adapting another anchor point and another attributelabel from another RPD configuration.
 33. The management system of claim21 where the at least one processor delivers the set of video streams tothe RPD using the RPD configuration.
 34. The management system of claim21 where the at least one processor uses the set of anchor points andthe set of attribute labels to correlate the set of the video streams toa frequency ranges in a signal that is sent to a user premises.
 35. Themanagement system of claim 34 where different video streams areconfigured at different frequency ranges based on labels associated withrespective video streams.